DaytonDailyNews.com

Jack Bauer was once a man who got results.

An emotionless machine unencumbered by his own feelings, he was a man that pistol whipped first and asked questions later.

As a former director of the Counter Terrorist Unit once said, "Rules don't apply to Jack Bauer. He does what he wants, when he wants, and he doesn't care whose life it affects."

But, that Jack is gone and with him is going "24," the TV show chronicling the misadventures that frequently result from Agent Bauer's more often than not justified insubordination.

Aside from Detective John McClane I'm hard pressed to think of an imaginary American law enforcement officer at any level with a better track record of simultaneously foiling terrorist plots and cheating death no matter how certain it may be.

Each season viewers could count on at least one spectacular act of reckless, yet highly effective, machismo from Jack as he stared imminent danger in the face. But then something went wrong during "24's" sixth season. Jack became a sniveling, broken shell of himself crippled by the weight of all he had done to exhaustively preserve the American way of life.

We as a nation owe Jack a great debt of gratitude so I was willing to look past the debacle of last season until I read about the storyline for this season.

Filming for season seven of "24" will operate under the umbrella of Fox's new "Cool Change" initiative in an effort to "reduce and offset the carbon emissions from the show's production, with the goal of having the season finale be entirely carbon-neutral." That's great, taking steps to protect and improve the environment is important and beneficial for everyone. Then I read on.

"Climate change will be incorporated into the series' plot."

What conceivable way can the writers work global warming into Jack's exploits and not have it seem contrived or improbable, even by recent "24" standards?

Maybe Jack's going to drive around in a Prius locating and torturing known non-recyclers. Or perhaps he'll have Chloe hack into the Ozone and reposition the hole over North Korea. Better yet, maybe Jack will capture the sun, tie it to a chair and beat it into submission.

Meanwhile, while Jack is busy planting trees to offset the carbon footprint of CTU SUVs, the fate of the free world is left in the hands of the very people whose incompetence is concealed by Bauer's repeated save-the-day heroics.

Why don't they just replace Kiefer Sutherland with Al Gore and have him do his slideshow in the conference room at CTU headquarters?

No, that would be counterproductive. To save "24" producers must get back to what works, give Jack back his spine and abandon this transparent attempt to cater to the current Hollywood "it" cause, important as it may be. Another porous plotline could sink "24" and Jack Bauer for good.

The clock is ticking for you to e-mail: entertainmentweakly@yahoo.com